Bess's Adventures in Wonderland
by Arcole
Summary: Follows Blast from the Past. Bess and Morgan find themselves drawn into a disturbing VR simulation where they learn more about the strange sunstones and their place on the planet. I'm still finishing the series. My episode 2.2.
1. Chapter 1

Bess's Adventures in Wonderland

Disclaimer: I don't own Earth 2. I wish I did.

Chapter 1

**Previously on Earth 2—shots from Better Living through Morganite Part II of Julia with the sunstones and the scanner talking about how they learned our language, Morgan trying to break the geolock in VR, shots from Blast from the Past of Danziger picking up the sunstone in VR and collapsing. **

Bess VO:_ Day 156, but it seems like longer. We're finally moving again after being in one place for the past 24 days. I can't believe Eben is dead and we're leaving Devon behind. We're down to fourteen now. Some of us cope by becoming overly busy. Danziger and Yale were up late studying maps and charts for our next move. Alonzo left at dawn on the ATV for an advance scout. Everyone else is quiet. I'm really worried about Uly and True. It's scary how big the hole is where Devon used to be. _

The procession of colonists and vehicles passed quietly over a narrow grassy plain between the rocky hills that rose on either side. Bess and Morgan walked behind the transrover hand in hand, neither saying much.

"Are you tired?" he asked her at last. Bess had been one of the sickest during the whole Eve debacle and he still wasn't confident that she'd recovered fully.

"I'm okay, Morgan," she smiled at him, but the smile didn't really reach her eyes. She was sad. Everyone was sad. She looked up ahead at True and Uly riding in the back of the rover. They too were sad. Bess could only imagine how abandoned each one felt.

Every step took them farther and father away from Uly's mom, left in cold sleep on the Council ship. The other two people he looked to the most, Yale and Danziger, spent all their time working out routes and the whole process of moving camp. Bess looked ahead to see the two men standing in deep conversation, pointing out features on the holographic globe of the planet suspended colorfully over Yale's cybernetic hand. That used to be Devon's job, she thought sadly.

Up on the rover, True sighed with a weariness that drove Bess to action.

"Can I borrow your VR gear for a little while, Morgan?" she asked her husband.

"Sure," he replied with a bit of surprise. Bess typically wasn't one for VR.

She took the set and met up with Yale and Danziger.

"Alonzo says that this pass doesn't seem to be widening up ahead. I'm afraid we're in for a dead end," Danziger was saying.

"But there is a large river on the maps only about 30 kilometers from here," Yale interjected. "Surely we'll be coming to the river plain soon."

"Who knows? So far our maps have been more educated guess than anything else. I just hope that the closer we get to New Pacifica, the better the detail will be," Danziger replied with a shrug. "Right now, we've got to make it to that river, then we've got to worry about fording it in the springtime, full of runoff from melting snow."

He passed one hand over his eyes as if to wipe away the frustrations that plagued him. "Between three months in winter camp and three weeks here, we're over 1,600 klicks behind schedule. I can just feel Adair riding my ass for us to make up time."

Seeing Bess standing behind them, he gave her a little smile, then pulled his gear into place to call for Alonzo's update as he walked away.

Yale looked to her, his face as calm as Danziger's had been concerned. "Yes, Bess, what can I do for you?" he asked in that melodic voice she'd come to love.

She held out her VR gear to him. "Can you build me a library?" she asked.

Some time later, she sat between Uly and True in the back of the transrover, Morgan's VR gear on her head. "Yale helped me set this up for you guys," she said as they each put on their VR gear. "I think you'll like it," she said, then reached up to the controls to begin the program.

With a flash, the three found themselves standing the middle of a very old, very distinguished looking library.

"Back home on earth, I used to go to an old library a lot like this one," Bess said softly as she looked around. "Whenever the station vids would go down, I'd go there and read books."

"Why didn't you just go in VR?" True asked.

"I never even saw a decent VR set until I met Morgan," Bess replied wryly. "I read books."

"Actual books? On paper?" Uly asked with a look of distaste as he glanced around the shelves.

"Yes, actual books," she replied firmly. She walked over to the nearest shelf and began to run her fingers over the titles Yale had quickly loaded up for her. She'd asked for children's classics.

Her finger ran over _Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, _and _Oliver Twist. _Weren't there any books for boys that didn't have an orphaned hero? she wondered to herself. Finally, she pulled Tom Sawyer off the shelf and passed it to Uly. At least Tom had decent adventures.

Then she did the same for True, finally selecting _The Wizard of Oz, _which she'd always loved.

"There," she said as they looked at her blankly, holding the books in their hands. "Go find a comfy seat and read." With a look at each other and a shrug, they moved off to a circle of soft looking overstuffed leather chairs.

For herself, she selected _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_. "I haven't read this in years," she sighed with a smile. "I could use a little nonsense right now."

Settling herself into a chair next to the children, she opened her book and began to read.

Outside, Morgan looked up to see the three of them sitting very quietly, only moving their hands occasionally. What kind of VR game were they playing? It didn't look very exciting to him.

Behind the three on the rover, the power generator equipped with juryrigged sunstone hummed along as it broadcast power to the vehicles and equipment. No one noticed when the humming picked up a bit in pitch nor when the sunstone began to glow a little more intently.

Bess was well into her book, enjoying it immensely, when the VR simulation suddenly shifted out of the library. She found herself in a pinafore dress, standing on the northern plain in front of the deep chasm where she and Morgan had deposited the spore that held springtime. A soft green mist now floated out of it.

The chasm seemed dark and bottomless as she carefully peeped over the side.

"What is this?" she asked irritatedly. "Morgan, did you mess with the VR program?" she called out to him. "I'm supposed to read the book, not be in it."

"Bess!" she heard him call, but not from outside the program. His voice came from behind her. She turned to see him running toward her, dressed in an old fashioned waistcoat and carrying a fan and a pair of kidgloves. "Bess, what am I doing here?" he yelled as he ran. "I can't stop! And why do I feel late for something?"

He brushed past her as he ran straight off the edge of the cliff and into the chasm. "Bess!" he screamed as he fell.

"Morgan!" she leaned over the edge, knowing what had to come next, but powerless to stop it. "Somebody help us!" she shouted, then found herself tumbling into G889's equivalent of a rabbit hole.

Baines was walking rear guard, his mind more on swapping out guard for driving duty with Walman on their next break than on watching the people ahead of him. But even his attention was grabbed by the sight first of Morgan Martin falling to the ground, followed by Bess's headlong tumble out of the back of the transrover.

He ran to their side to find both apparently unconscious. When he attempted to remove Bess's VR gear, it shocked him in a way both disturbing and familiar.

He called out a halt over gear to everyone, then added, "Julia, get back here. Something's happened to the Martins."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Far ahead of the group, Alonzo guided the ATV through the valley pass, glad to see that it hadn't narrowed any more. So far there was still plenty of room for the rover to pass and the valley floor remained fairly smooth. He was getting close to rounding a bend in the trail when his gear chirped and Danziger's voice broke into his thoughts.

"'Lonz, we need you to get back here asap," Danziger stated firmly. "The Martins have passed out and Bess is locked into that VR gear the same way I was. Julia says they're dreaming."

"Does Uly sense anything from the Terrians?" Alonzo asked as he turned the ATV around.

"He says there aren't any Terrians close to us," Danziger replied. "And I'm not going to ask him to do any more than that." Alonzo could hear the protectiveness in his voice. He took his job as Uly's guardian very seriously.

"I'm on my way," Alonzo signed off and made best time back to the group. If he'd only ridden around the next bend, he'd have made it far enough to see the wide valley open ahead of him, complete with empty human settlement.

When he arrived, he found the group huddled around a hastily erected tent set up to give the sleeping pair a little shade and Julia some privacy to work.

Danziger stood at a distance with his arm draped around True's shoulder. When Alonzo walked up, Danziger motioned to him. "True, tell Alonzo what you and Uly saw," he instructed gently.

True began her tale of entering the VR library with Bess. "We were all sitting there reading, and I heard a humming noise. I looked up and Bess was glowing. Then she wasn't there. The program ended and I saw her fall off the back of the rover."

"She and Uly were linked into Bess's program, but when she passed out, they were dropped out of it. Meanwhile, Martin there wasn't even linked to them and passed out too," Danziger said. Then he turned to True, "Thanks, Truegirl. You and Uly hang out with Yale for a bit while we check with Julia."

With a long backward look at the tent covering the Martins, True walked away to where Uly and Yale sat on some boxes.

Alonzo began to walk over to the tent, but John held back on his arm. "I can't get any closer than this," he said. "If I do, I begin to get this funny feeling, like something's pulling at me. I didn't want True to know. She doesn't need any more worry."

Alonzo nodded and walked over toward the tent, his awareness moving out from him for any hints that he too might be affected. Nothing. He pushed aside the doorflap to see Julia kneeling next to the pair, deep in thought. She looked up at his entrance and he was gratified by the relief that flooded her face.

She gave him a hug as he knelt next to her between the cots the Martins were resting on. "I am so glad you're here," she began. "I can't make anything of this. It just like when John was working on the generator. We did manage to make them a little more comfortable, but we can't pull off the VR gear. If you come close to it, it shocks you."

"They don't appear to be hurt in any way, just asleep," she sighed. "Do you get anything from the Terrians?"

Alonzo closed his eyes and began to dream. There was no one there on the Dreamplane. He couldn't feel the presence of any Terrians anywhere near. However, there was something different. It was like there was another aspect of the Dreamplane very close to him, but one he couldn't enter.

"It's just like when John went down," he said after a few minutes. "I can't feel them, but I can tell there's something there. I just can't go there."

He looked over at Julia and wished he had the answers to make the worry leave her face. He reached out to touch her cheek softly. "I'm going to talk to John. Maybe he will remember something that can help us."

On the ground before them, the Martins never stirred.

Deep in their little wonderland corner of the Dreamplane, Morgan stood next to Bess in a dark cave.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Beth murmured under her breath.

Terrians circled them periodically, making Morgan tremendously nervous. At least they were no longer dressed like Alice and the White Rabbit. He did think Bess had been cute in her pinafore though. It gave him a few ideas for a new VR simulation of his own, if he could just talk her into it.

"Morgan, honey," Bess began softly, "Do you have any ideas what they want from us?"

"Not a one," he answered, his voice echoing oddly in the distorted reality of the Dreamplane. "Maybe they're warning us to stay away from holes in the ground."

"Be serious," she replied firmly. "I have a feeling we can't leave until we know what they're trying to tell us."

"What I want to know is why it's us doing this and not Alonzo. Why did they pick on us? I thought he was the official ambassador to the Terrians," Morgan whined.

Suddenly the wall behind them began to glow and broad streaks of golden sunstone began to peek through the rock.

"That's it, Bess," Morgan exclaimed fearfully. "They still hold a grudge about that geolock incident. We're done for!"

Bess looked at the Terrians that stood around them. They weren't threatening at all, and the noises they made were soft and inquisitive rather than angry. "I don't think so," she said. "I think they're trying to tell us something." She looked at the wall. It glowed so hypnotically, drawing her closer.

"Bess, no!" Morgan yelled as she reached out to touch it.

Back in the bright sunshine of the camp, Alonzo, Danziger, Baines, Walman, and Yale sat around a small table discussing their options. "We never did an analysis of the gear after Danz's little episode, did we?" Alonzo asked. "Maybe it's malfunctioning."

"We blamed the whole incident on the sunstone last time, but the Martins didn't have any contact with it," Yale said evenly. "The only tie between the two events is the VR gear."

"So the VR gear is spitting out bad programs," Walman conjectured. "That's all."

"No," John interjected, more firmly than he meant. "There's more to it than that. What happened to me in there was no bad program."

"What did happen, John?" Yale asked softly.

Danziger gave an inscrutable glance around the table, then with an edge in his voice replied, "It was no bad program, that's all."

When Baines made as if to press further, Alonzo interjected, "I agree with John. There's something more to it than VR. I can tell that there's something happening on the Dreamplane, I just can't get to it. Besides, no VR program can pull someone else into the program without a gearset on. How did Morgan get drawn in?"

From behind them came a feminine voice. "What you guys need to be doing is coming up with all the similarities you can think of between the two situations, including everything Morgan, Bess, and John have in common," Magus said, passing Walman a cup of water.

"That's a good idea," Yale said thoughtfully. "What do the events have in common? What do the three of them have in common?"

"Who all in the group has been on the Dreamplane?" Baines asked. "Just Alonzo and Uly, right?"

"Devon too," Danziger answered. "Remember her promises she made," he continued, a little more harshly than he intended. The run-in with Gaal had nearly cost him True. He was still angry about that.

"Anybody else?" Magus asked, looking around the group.

"Just Danz here with the VR," Baines replied. "So it's not a Dreaming thing."

"What about the sunstones?" Danziger suggested. "It was just VR until I touched the sunstone."

"What on earth made you do that anyway?" asked Walman accusingly.

Danziger glanced away from the table. He didn't really want to answer.

"Why, John?" Yale asked gently. "It might be important."

"It just seemed like a good idea at the time," Danziger managed, embarrassed. "It was VR—it shouldn't have hurt anything."

"And now that sunstone is powering our whole camp," Baines realized.

"Yeah, the generator is broadcasting power out to everything—including VR headsets," Danziger continued in realization. Breaking from the table, he dashed over to the rover, hauling himself up quickly to the side of the generator, still humming.

"Please don't explode, please don't explode," he pleaded with the stone as he reached in to pull it free from its housing. Just as his fingers made contact, he found himself falling into VR with its usual zip and flash.

Alonzo reached his side just in time to catch him as he fell unconscious off the back of the rover.

"Help me get him to Julia," he grunted to Walman and Baines as he struggled under the tall mechanic's weight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Bess stood there, one hand on the sunstone, the glow of it transforming her face into something unearthly, yet beautiful. Morgan tried to pull her free, but she was too hot—her skin was blistering hot to the touch.

He tried to talk to her. "Bess, let go of the rocks. Please, sweetheart, let go and let's get out of here," he begged. The Terrians began to circle closer to them, their noises becoming more insistent.

"Morgan," she whispered distantly. "I'm speaking to the earth. It knows us, Morgan." Her voice trailed away.

The Dreamscape flickered around them, only the sunstones remaining just as they were. They were back in the caves below the winter camp. The geolock still had the land petrified and he could see the figure of the petrified Terrian half-emerged from the wall.

"No, no, no," Morgan cried in anguish, "they are still mad about the damned geolock. I'm sorry, I told you."

"Hush, Morgan," she said sternly. "I'm trying to listen."

He reached out to her again, intending to forcibly drag her away from the wall, but she was too fast for him. Her free hand grabbed his wrist with a strength he didn't think she possessed. Suddenly, his mind felt as though it was being searched—like someone was rifling through his memories like scanning vid channels.

Every moment of the past few months on the planet ran through his mind like someone had pushed the scan button. He could hear himself cry out against the onslaught of memory and sank to his knees as the emotional pitch of it all built in his head.

Suddenly it was all over. Bess looked down at him with eyes that were not hers at all, eyes that glowed like sunstones.

"I know you," a voice came from her mouth that sounded like her but he knew it wasn't. "You are the first mind to successfully reach me." Flashes of him breaking the abort crypt on the geolock flashed around him. "You carried this planet's life inside you." Images of the dash toward springtime swirled past. "But you are filled with fear and avarice. You would plunder this world in your ignorance and greed."

"No, no," Morgan stammered. "I've sworn off plundering, I swear!"

"This one," Bess released her iron grip on his wrist and reached up to lay her hand on her own chest, "cares for you a great deal. She pleads on your behalf. She says that you undid your damage to the earth and freed the child you froze inside it. She says you carried the springtime inside you and would not let it die."

There came a very pregnant pause as Bess seemed to look inside herself. "You are released," the voice that wasn't Bess said dismissively. "I know you well enough."

Julia sat next to her charges, carefully observing and monitoring their condition. Suddenly she was startled when Morgan sat up abruptly calling out. "Bess! Bess!" Julia attempted to calm him, running her diaglove over his neck and chest.

"I have to get back there!" he cried desperately. "Bess!" He looked down to see Bess's sleeping form next to him, VR set still attached to her head. Knowing what would happen, he still attempted to remove it. The shock sent him reeling back into Alonzo and Walman as they carried an unconscious Danziger into the tent, nearly causing them to drop him.

"What happened to Danziger?" Julia asked, exasperation evident in her voice.

"He tried to take the sunstone out of the power generator," Alonzo explained as they eased John's long form to the ground next to Bess's cot. "We think it's communicating with the VR set somehow."

Julia passed her hand over him with concern. "He's in the same state Bess and Morgan were in," she explained. Then she turned to Morgan. "What's happening in there?" she asked, her blue eyes full of questions.

"I think Bess is talking to somebody in the sunstones," Morgan ventured, shaking his head.

"The Terrians?" Alonzo asked.

"They were there, but I get the feeling its somebody else," Morgan ran both hands down his face, then looked at Alonzo with a confused expression. "I think it might be the planet."

Bess stood there on the Dreamplane, her eyes closed, her face rapt with attention as she listened. Her hand rested on the sunstone. She'd never felt anything more wonderful. Then she realized she was no longer alone.

"John," she said softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," he answered from where he stood behind her. The Dreamscape swirled and flickered.

"The Mother is glad you finally came. She wished to speak with you again. She said she's better able to communicate now. She wishes to thank you for providing the bridge and for carrying the life of springtime inside you." Bess's voice had sounded dreamy and far away. Then suddenly her eyes opened and she looked at him with a smile. "Even though you didn't finish the job like me and Morgan did," she chided.

Her eyes drifted shut again. "That's how she knows us. She could feel us. She changed us somehow. She's glad to have the bridge," her voice floated around him through the Dreamscape.

The idea that the crazy spore he'd tried so hard to get rid of had changed him made Danziger very uneasy. "Bess, we need to leave," he began and reached out to her shoulder.

Almost faster than he could follow, she took his hand in hers, interlacing their fingers together.

Suddenly, all the memories of their time on the planet flooded through him, the rush causing his knees to buckle beneath him.

"I can see you," a voice came from Bess, hers but deeper, richer, older. "I know you. You are afraid of the things you do not understand." Images of Terrians and himself fighting the spore swirled around him.

The voice continued, echoing in his head and in his ears. "You fear for those you love." Faces flickered around him—first True, then all the others in rapid succession.

"You are afraid of failing them." Flashes of his nightmare of leaving Ellie and Devon in cold sleep made him shake with their intensity.

"You have killed," the voice said in condemnation. He relived the nightmare of shooting the Grendler on the doomed mission to find Cargo Pod 9. He felt anew the subsequent deep guilt and sorrow at knowing she was only protecting her young, just like he'd always tried to protect True. He shuddered as the horror of it all flooded back through him.

"This one," Bess seemed to look inward, as if having a conversation with herself, "pleads on your behalf."

Suddenly, Bess released his hand and the pressure of the memories faded away.

"I know you, John Danziger," the voice continued. "You are strong in many ways, but your fear will destroy you if you let it. I do not choose you for this reason, but I will keep you close to me because you are the leader of this group and there is hope for you yet."

Bess/not Bess reached down to him, where he still knelt in front of her. Then, she ran her hand up the back of his neck into the curls of his hair, her fingers spreading out against the back of his head. "I have a message for you to give to the one who heals." Bess paused a moment as if in internal conversation. "The doctor, Julia. Tell her that this thing inside you that was killing you is now healing you," her hand gripped his head tightly. "Tell her it will not continue to do so for much longer. I cannot touch the sickness. It is not of me."

Bess leaned closer to John's upturned face. Her hand gripped his neck again, "You must all be changed, but not like the Dreamer and the Terrian child." Images of Alonzo and Uly flashed past him. "I cannot make you my children while you carry this thing inside you. It fights me at every turn. But you must all change or you will die."

She let go of him so abruptly he nearly fell backwards.

"I will keep you close, John Danziger, but this one," Bess's hand reached up to her own chest, "this one gave herself fully. She has done no harm. I keep her for myself. I release you—for now."

A look flickered over Bess's face and he knew he was looking at Bess again. "John?" she asked.

Then with a flash, he found himself lying on the ground, looking up at the underside of the tent, Julia and Alonzo leaning over him.

"It's got Bess," he began, his voice grating in his ears. "I don't think it means to let her go."

"Bess!" Morgan called out in misery, his voice echoing through the camp like the cry of a wounded animal.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The group members gathered in the tent and once again Danziger found himself repeating the words Bess/not Bess had said to him. Finally, he resorted to holding the back of Julia's head as Bess had done his. "This thing is healing us, but not for long," he repeated in frustration.

"Why does everything on this planet have to be such a riddle?" Morgan moaned. "Why can't it just make sense?"

"Morgan, what did the planet tell you?" Yale asked gently.

"It doesn't like me very much," he sighed. Then he looked around at the group desperately. "I said I was sorry!" he added miserably.

"Who else has had contact with the sunstones?" Magus asked.

"I tried to link them to the scanner, but never touched them or anything," Julia answered. "They began learning our language quickly, so we tried to use them with the geolock, but Morgan had to provide the interface."

"Over the VR set," Morgan added with growing comprehension. "That's why she said I was the first mind to successfully reach her."

"Let me get this straight," Danziger began. "The planet is talking to Bess over VR using the sunstone that's powering the generator. That's the bridge she was talking about."

"That appears to make sense," Yale interjected. "But I too touched the sunstones in the cave. They opened my memory." His voice drifted away as he recollected the time. "But I never felt a consciousness behind it. Mary said the Terrians listen to find truth. I found the truth in myself, but nothing else."

Danziger looked pointedly at Julia. "Bess said that we'd changed. She made a big deal out of the whole springtime business and that the planet was grateful to us and knew us."

"I think that may be the only reason the planet isn't holding a serious grudge against me over that damned geolock," Morgan added.

"Are Morgan and Bess and I any different from everybody else?" he asked Julia.

She ran her diaglove over John's head, neck, and chest. She then changed a few settings and did the same thing again, concentrating her scan around his head.

"Your brain activity is slightly altered from the norm," she said thoughtfully. "But not in the same way that Alonzo's and Uly's have changed. I'd like to take some blood samples and see if I can find any other evidence."

She did the same with Morgan and Bess. "There's definitely something altered," she said. "I really need to find out more."

"What about me?" asked Yale. "I've been in contact as well."

Julia held her glove over Yale's closed eyes for a moment, then checked the readouts. "No, Yale. Your brain patterns are unchanged."

"Then its the spore that did it," Alonzo concluded.

Julia looked at the two changed men, aware of the consternation in their faces. "I don't think its anything to worry about," she assured them.

"Bess said we'd all have to change or we'd die," Danziger continued. "Is this what she was talking about?"

Julia was mystified. "I have no idea," she answered. "We need to set up the med tent and let me get to work."

"Let's go ahead and make camp here, guys," Danziger ordered. "Whatever we're dealing with, we've got to have some answers."

The group emptied out of the tent, leaving only Julia, Alonzo, Danziger, and Morgan at Bess's side.

"What about Bess?" Morgan asked, taking his wife's hand in his and stroking it softly. "We can't leave her like this. I have to get her back."

Danziger looked down at Bess's peaceful form. "The planet said it was going to keep her. That's not an option."

Back in wonderland, Bess was having the adventure of a lifetime. The planet opened itself to her mind and she could see things in such a new way. The interconnectedness of it all, the vastness of the intelligence that lay in the rock itself. She sought to understand what she was seeing and the planet responded to her eagerness.

She suddenly knew what the planet had planned for Uly. She could see the dark line that divided him from the rest of them, a line they couldn't cross—all of them except Alonzo and Devon. They could venture into that territory in time, but the rest of them had been cut off from the earth.

Something blocked the way and kept them from truly becoming part of her, her children. They had been stranded in a no-man's land until now. Now the planet could reach them as well as change them. They were all becoming something new, but not necessarily the same thing.

But there was a problem. That dark line was a curse and a blessing. The blessing was holding for now, but not for long. Bess could feel the planet increasing its hold on her in an attempt to explain something for which it had no words, something that was alien to it and therefore incomprehensible. She frowned at the intensity of the communication, desperate to understand.

In the tent, Julia reached up to the back of her head in thought. "The thing that was killing us is now healing us," she thought aloud.

Julia looked down at Bess, then entered a long string of commands into her diaglove. Then she passed the glove over Bess's head and neck, her eyes widening at what she found.

"The biostat chip," she said in realization.

"I thought you said you couldn't pick it up," Morgan said, a faint accusation in his voice.

"After Elizabeth showed it to me, I entered the information from her diagnostics into my own," Julia explained. "If we're going to have these things, I wanted to know what they are doing."

"And?" Danziger asked.

"Bess's is going into overdrive right now," Julia answered, her attention still focused on the readouts the glove was providing.

"Could Riley be overloading it again?" Alonzo asked.

"No, it's not the same," Julia replied. "It's not an overload so much as an intensification." She looked up, to meet Alonzo's dark eyes. "I don't know what it means."

In the Dreamscape images swirled around Bess, disconnected images of the valley where they'd buried Eben, the Council ship, a human settlement, an explosion overhead, and a shower of dark rain. She stood there in the dark rain as it fell and the insistent voice echoed again and again, "This is not of me. I cannot touch it. This is not of me."

"You will all die," the voice said again and again, pressing information into her mind faster than she could process it. Bess screamed as pain lanced through her head.

On the cot before them, Bess gave a soft moan and stirred.

"The implant is going haywire," Julia exclaimed.

"Get me a VR set," Morgan commanded. "I'm going to go back in there for her."

"Morgan, you don't know if that will work," Julia responded.

"I have to do something," Morgan moaned. "What if she never comes out of it?"

"I agree," Danziger said firmly. "'Lonz, go get the kids' VR sets. We'll both try to enter the program."

"Why both of you?" Julia asked.

"The planet doesn't like him very much," Danziger replied dryly.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Danizer and Morgan placed the sets on their heads and with a long look at each other, touched the input controls at their temples to enter the program.

For a moment, it seemed that nothing had happened to either of them. Then suddenly, Danziger's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground.

Morgan desperately punched the input control again and again. "Let me in there, planet!" he cried angrily. "She's my wife! Let me in!"

Alonzo put his hand on Morgan's arm. "John won't let anything happen to her, Morgan. Calm down."

"The implant is beginning to stabilize," Julia added in a comforting voice as she held her hand out over Bess's still form.

Morgan looked over at where Danziger lay on the ground, his face half obscured by hair. "You better take care of her, Danziger," he said grimly. "Bring her back to me."

Danziger opened his eyes on the Dreamplane again, but things were totally different. "Where the hell am I?" he wondered aloud. Bright colors, trees, a table set in the middle of a forest. Bess sat there wearing a frilly dress with a bright white pinafore over the top. Her curly hair was topped by a large blue bow.

"Bess?" he asked carefully.

"You're right on time for the tea party, John!" she cried in a childish voice. "But you aren't dressed properly."

"Sorry about that," he said carefully. He walked toward her to see Uly sitting there at the table, seemingly asleep. Interestingly, Alonzo and Devon were passing teacups and pouring tea.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

Uly woke up suddenly and cried out, "It's my birthday!" then seemingly fell back to sleep.

"It's everybody's birthday, Uly," Devon said soothingly. "It's even John's birthday."

"Happy birthday, John!" Alonzo said genially, taking a piece of cake for himself.

"Bess, are you feeling okay?" Danziger asked quietly.

"I'm reading my book," she answered with a yawn. "I got tired playing that game with Mom. She said I needed to rest."

"Mom?" Danziger questioned suspiciously.

"Mom likes you, John. She called you Johnny," Bess gave a knowing giggle.

The surrealness of the place was overwhelming to the logical mechanic. He knelt down next to Bess's chair, ignoring the soft snores Uly was sending up.

"Where is 'Mom' now?" he asked softly.

"Right here," Bess answered brightly and held out her hand, a bright sunstone in her grip.

"It might be a good idea to let go of Mom for a while," he suggested softly. "You need to come back home and rest."

Bess frowned and pursed her lips. "Mom wants me to come back later though. You too. Would that be okay?"

"Sure, Bess. Tell Mom we'll be back but she has to play nice," Danziger felt like he was talking to four year old True again.

"True." Bess said as if echoing his thoughts.

"Yeah, let's get back home and see True," Danziger answered, rising and pulling Bess to her feet with him.

"I know a secret about True, Johnny," Bess whispered.

"What secret?"

"True's dying," she said with the seriousness of a small child.

A cold shock ran over him and he gripped her arm, probably much tighter than he meant. The tea party faded away around them and the Dreamscape shifted to a plain and an overcast sky and a dark rain began to fall.

"Then maybe Alonzo. But not the rest of us if we hurry across. And not Uly. He's really different now." She leaned in to whisper to him, "Mooncross."

"Alonzo, we ought to do something about you, though," Bess called to him as he appeared in the rain next to them. "And Devon. There just wasn't enough time for Devon," she sighed.

"Mom says to tell Julia about this. Can you remember to do that, Johnny? I feel really sleepy. I don't think I'll remember," Bess yawned again and swayed on her feet.

He caught her as she fell and picked her up in his arms. She looked and felt like a little girl, no bigger than True. True's dying, she'd said.

"Why is True dying?" he asked Bess intently, his voice husky with emotion.

"This," she answered, holding her hand out into the rain as it fell around them. "This killed them all. Mom tried to stop it. She's really sorry about that."

Bess held the sunstone before her eyes. "I'll tell them, I promise," she said into it.

Then she put her hand up to Danziger's cheek. "You're so sweet, John." she sighed. Then she turned to the sunstone in her hand. "Bye, Mom," she said weakly, then allowed the stone to roll free from her fingers.

A flash and zip brought Danziger back to awareness. The ground was hard and his arms felt strangely empty. He sat up so fast his head spun. "Where is she? Is she okay?" he asked.

He heard a moan from Bess's cot and pushed Morgan aside more roughly than he meant. Without hesitation, he pulled the VR gear off her head and tossed it across the tent. Carefully, he pushed the long curls back from her face and called gently to her. "Bess! Wake up!"

"Johnny?" she answered softly.

"Johnny?" Morgan repeated in disbelief.

"What do you remember, Bess?" Danziger asked, stroking her cheek. "Tell me about True. What's wrong with True?"

Bess opened her eyes and he could see them flicker to alertness. "What's going on, Danziger? Where am I? Where's Morgan?"

"Bess, what about True?" Danziger asked again. "What's the matter with True?"

Bess looked at him with complete innocence. "I don't know. What are you talking about?"

Danziger knew he was getting a little out of hand, but didn't know how to stop himself. "Bess, you said True was dying. What's wrong with her?"

"Why would I say something like that? John, please, you're scaring me," Bess answered weakly.

Suddenly Morgan Martin was between them. "Danziger, I don't know what happened in there, but back off, okay?" he said gently. "Give her some time."

"We might not have any time!" Danziger cried. "There was black rain and a valley and Bess said True was dying, then Alonzo, but the rest of us had to hurry."

He pushed Morgan aside again, "Please, Bess, please think, please remember!"

"I don't know," she answered pitifully. "I was reading, then Morgan was there, then—" her voice broke off. "I don't know, John."

Alonzo was there at his arm, pulling him away from the cot. He fought back, only to find Morgan at his other arm. "No one is listening to me!" he cried. "True's dying, then Alonzo, but not the rest of us and not Uly. There wasn't time for Devon, but maybe we can do something. Bess, that's what you said!" He fought them again with all his strength. "Bess, tell them!"

He felt a pressure at his neck and heard a hiss, then all went black around him.

He awoke to the feel of someone's fingers in his hair. "Daddy?" He heard True's voice. "I'm here, Daddy."

"Keep talking to him," he heard Alonzo this time. "Let him know you're okay."

"Daddy, it's True. They said you were worried about me." He managed to open his eyes to see her sitting there in her overalls, her hair pulled back in the same braid he'd put it in that morning. He reached up to her face.

"John, True's fine," Julia entered his vision as well. "I gave her a complete check up and she's fine. I can't find a single thing wrong with her."

"Why did you do that?" he asked sleepily. "Truegirl, do you feel sick?"

Julia knelt down next to him and ran her diaglove over him. "Don't you remember? When you brought Bess back out of VR?"

Danizger thought for a moment. "It was raining. Black rain." He looked at True. "I was worried about you, kiddo." His voice was tired, but calm. He closed his eyes again and relaxed into True's touch.

Julia looked down at him with a frown of concern creasing her forehead. "True, keep an eye on your dad for us, will you?"

True nodded, and Julia motioned for Alonzo to follow her out of the tent to where the others stood around in conversation.

"Is he all right?" Yale asked as they approached.

"He seems fine now," Julia answered. "Morgan, how's Bess?"

"She's asleep," he replied. "What set him off like that?"

"All we know is what Danziger was saying. Black rain, and True and I dying, but not Uly and that it was too late for Devon," Alonzo answered.

"There was no time for Devon," Yale interjected. "There may be a difference."

"I say we give them overnight to recover, then tomorrow we move on. Cameron scouted ahead and there's an old human settlement in the valley, just a half day's push from here," Alonzo continued.

"That may be the site of the first colony Bennett was talking about," Yale stated thoughtfully. "It may yield some answers."

"Let's hope so," Alonzo answered, putting his arm around Julia. "Let's hope so."

Back in her tent, Bess dreamed of sunstones and the Queen of Hearts. But it was only a dream.


End file.
